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Workshops - OverviewA platform for informal thinking, learning and debateThe 6CP holds two international workshops each year, traditionally in the spring and autumn seasons. The aim of these meetings is to further our understanding of innovation policies and practices and to improve the coordination of efforts in the field, by bringing together experts from various countries, sectors and disciplines to share their insights and experiences and to debate common issues of interest and concern. The first 6CP workshop dates back to 1976. In the ensuing years, many topics have been covered on relevant and pressing issues of the day. Information about the next workshop and an overview of past workshops can be found below. 6CP member organizations take turns organizing and hosting these events, and coordinating the preparation of background papers and presentations. A special effort is made to balance conceptual issues and empirical case studies, and to attract a wide array of policy-makers and practitioners from both the public and private sectors. Participants take part in these workshops in a personal capacity rather than as formal representatives of their organizations. This creates an atmosphere of informality that stimulates open and candid exchanges of information and views. The 6CP workshops present ideal opportunities for networking with other leading experts in the field, while sharing perspectives on new developments and best practices. If you are interested in participating in the next workshop or would like further information, please contact a member of the Steering Committee from your country or, if your country is not represented, the Committee chairperson. General information requests can be directed to the 6CP Secretariat Upcoming WorkshopNon-Technical Innovations - Definition, Measurement and Policy Implications The current understanding of innovation is mainly linked to technical product and process innovations. This is mirrored in existing measurement instruments predominantly surveying R&D based technical innovations with indicators like public or business R&D epxenditures, number of employees in R&D, sales of new-to-market products, sales of new-to-firm products or number of patents. However, many studies show that not only the development and absorption of new technologies is important for the success of economies, but also the implementation of new organisational structures or processes or the development and application of new service concepts. Organisational innovations are important because they often act as faciliotators of an efficient use of technical innovations as their success depends on the degree to which the organisational routines respond to the use of these new technologies. Similar is true for service innovations. New services which are offered together with new technologies often facilitate the access to new markets and customers. Organisational and service innovations furthermore present an immediate source of competitive advantage since they themselves have a significant impact on firm performance. Hence, in order to measure the innovation capability of firms and economies it is important to include both sides of innovation: the technical and non-technical side. Current innovation measurement instruments, however, only have started to integrate the non-technical side of innovation. The latest edition of the Oslo Manual, which serves as the main methodological source for innovation surveys in Europe, has integrated non-technical types of innovation. Depsite these efforts, research and knowledge on non-technical types of innovation is still in early stages. There is a need to increase common understanding and further harmonising the definitions and measurement concepts regarding non-technicalo innovations. Furthermore, it is important for research and innovation policy to understand the impact of organisational and service innovations on performance outcomes as well as their interaction with technical innovations. Hence, the workshop aims at contributing to achieve a better understanding of non-technical innovations by discussing adequate measurement concepts and analysing their relevance for firms' and economies' performance outcomes, in order to derive implications for innovation policy and research. The workshop will bring together researchers and policy makers with special expertise in the area of organisational and service innovations. Flyer Karlsruhe Documents for downloading available "Les Grands Projets : still important for innovation opportunities?", 19 - 20 November 2007, Brussels, Belgium
This year, the 6CP Autumn Conference will deal with the well-known French concept of “Les Grands Projets industriels”, addressed in relation to new developments in the practice and science of innovation policy. This conference is organized by IWT, the Agency for funding of research and innovation in Flanders (Belgium), on behalf of the Six Countries Programme and will take place in November 19-20, 2007 in Brussels. Technopolis Group, an international consultancy advising research and innovation policy makers, has been appointed to assist IWT in the organisation of this conference. The Six Countries Programme Conference intends to debate large-scale public-private partnerships – also known as Grands Projets after their French labelling. Grands projets are still used by most public authorities in advanced and developing economies to trigger and support innovation. However, they have evolved. They are now very different from the technological programmes and R&D research consortia that were set-up in the 1970s and 1980s in France, Japan or the US. Through discussions with international experts and decision makers involved in past and present Grands Projets around the world, this conference aims at assessing the effectiveness of Grands Projets to cope with the current and future challenges of knowledge economies. The conclusions and results of this conference should inform public and private decision makers on the impact of Grands Projets on innovation and competitiveness. The conference should also focus on their added value to address global issues and their relevance to support the building of the European Research Area. Documents for downloading available.
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